Symposium on “Expanding Human Rights Protection to Non-Human Subjects? Animals, Nature, Corporations and Robots as (potential) Human Rights Subjects”

The idea of extending human rights protection to non-human subjects such as animals, nature, corporations, and robots sparks complex ethical and legal debates. Yet it is already to some extent part of human rights practice. While some argue for recognising the inherent rights of some non-human entities based on sentience, due to their environmental value, or advanced capabilities, others caution against blurring the line between human and non-human rights. In our symposium, these questions and the different approaches regional human rights courts offer will be discussed by academic experts with judges from the courts, namely Justice Dominic Denis Adjei (Judge at the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights), Judge Verónica Gómez (Judge at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights) and Judge Tim Eicke (Judge at the European Court of Human Rights).